Tehran, November 29
Iran today announced plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in a major expansion of its nuclear programme - a clear show of defiance after the UN nuclear watchdog rebuked Tehran over secret such work. The decision by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government will further aggravate tensions between the Islamic Republic and major powers seeking a diplomatic solution to a long-running dispute over Iranian nuclear activities.

It may speed up discussions in the West about possible new sanctions on Iran over its repeated refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which the US and its allies suspect is part of a covert bid to develop nuclear bombs. Iran denies this.

The new enrichment facilities would be the same size as Iran's main enrichment complex at Natanz and work would begin within two months, state broadcaster IRIB said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) angered Iran on Friday when it censured the Islamic Republic for secretly building a second uranium enrichment plant, in addition to the one in Natanz.

“This is the reaction to the resolution which was bound to happen,” a senior diplomat close to the IAEA said, adding that it was unclear how much of it was bluff or a real plan. Ahmadinejad said Iran should aim to produce 250-300 tonnes of nuclear fuel a year and that new, faster centrifuges should be used to reach that target. He did not give a time frame.

“We have a friendly approach towards the world but at the same time we won't let anyone harm even one iota of the Iranian nation's rights," he said.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said, according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency: "As many as 10 new enrichment plants will be built." IRIB said the location of five the plants had already been decided and that work on these should start within two months. At the same time, the Atomic Energy Organisation should find suitable location for other five.

Ahmadinejad also said the government last week studied the issue of producing nuclear fuel enriched to 20 per cent, IRIB reported, compared with the level of 3.5 per cent it has now.

Estimates vary, but proliferation experts say 1,000-1,700 kg of low-enriched uranium, if converted into high-enriched uranium, would be enough to make a bomb.

Western powers suspect the Islamic Republic is seeking to develop nuclear bombs, and backed a UN-drafted nuclear fuel deal that was designed to allay international concern about Iran's atomic activities.

Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, says its atomic programme aims to generate electricity. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for nuclear power plants and, if refined much further, provide material for bombs.

Earlier, Iranian lawmakers had urged the government to prepare a plan to reduce cooperation with the IAEA over its rebuke. “Because of world powers’ hasty behaviour, the government should submit its plan over reducing Iran's cooperation level with the agency,” the MPs said in a statement.

Parliament can oblige the government to change the level of cooperation with the IAEA, as it did in 2006 after the agency in Vienna voted to report Iran to the UN Security Council. — Reuters